Ceremonial Spearhead

This interesting spearhead was produced by Native Americans sometime during the Mississippian era, around 2,000 years ago, and was used during ceremonial practices. It is around six to seven inches in length and is too long to have been used as a hunting weapon. Lewis and Madeline Kneberg found blades longer than this one around the Duck River in Middle Tennessee. They feature a photograph of several flint blades in their notable book "Tribes That Slumber" including one that was almost twenty eight inches long. During the Mississippian period, Tennessee Native Americans were well established along the river basins. These Native Americans established agricultural communities and built large towns that featured ceremonial mounds in the center. People had more leisure time than they did before and were able to craft decorative blades like this one and the Duck River blades. Crafting blades like this took extreme care because of the contrary nature of the flint used.

Hope that you enjoyed it. As always, check back with us again for another artifact of the week.

Information taken from Tribes That Slumber by Lewis and Madeline Kneburg

This ceremonial point was produced by Tennessee Native Americans during the Mississippian era which took place around 2,000 years ago. It was a decorative/ceremonial point.

This photograph, taken from Lewis and Madeline Kneberg's "Tribes That Slumber", shows some ceremonial points similar to the one at the museum. The one in the middle measures almost twenty eight inches long.

This is an artist's rendering of what a Mississippian village looked like. Notice the ceremonial mound in the center.